Asphaltite powder
Asphaltite is by nature extremely hydrophobic and will not readily mix with water or water based drilling fluids. Thus, it is difficult to use asphaltite as an effective drilling fluid additive.
Attempts have been made to make asphaltite based products more compatible with the drilling fluid. However, none of these attempts has been fully successful.Moreover, in typical drilling mud systems, the asphaltic material is packaged in fifty pound bags and dumped into the mud hopper on the rig in amounts equaling from 1 to 50 pounds per barrel of mud.
Asphaltite usage
Since the asphaltite material is extremely hydrophobic, a surfactant is then added to the mud system in amounts of 0.5 to 10 per cent by volume to make the asphaltite, which is gilsonite and disperse or become water wet. However, this process is extremely expensive because the surfactant might be used up on other solid materials in the mud system, such as, barite, bentonite, and drilled solids.
Asphaltite powder has been utilized in specialized drilling operations due to its advantageous qualities, despite its inherent limitations. As a sealing agent in drilling fluids, asphaltite, when finely powdered into a powder, can help prevent fluid loss in porous rocks. The correct dispersants and exact mix of the drilling mud determine how effective the asphaltite powder will be. By filling up tiny wellbore cracks, the fine asphaltite particles increase well integrity and decrease the likelihood of blowouts. However, asphaltite powder’s hydrophobic characteristic limits its use, and it frequently necessitates further chemical treatments and careful handling to attain the required performance in drilling applications.